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Regarding Immersion And The PS3's Rumble (Or Lack Thereof)
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Earlier this month we ran an article
asking just
how important Force Feedback was to you guys. The comments
established that a lot of you are actually somewhat bummed at the
thought of playing your next generation games without that warm
vibrating tactile sensation that the Dual Shock and it's successor
provided. If you've been following the whole Sony vs. Immersion thing
you'll know that things aren't looking up for the inclusion of rumble
technology in the mighty PS3.
Sony's official stance on the
matter is that the rumble technology would interfere with the proper
functioning of the tilt sensor technology now built into every PS3
controller. It makes sense when you think about it, particularly if
the final controller is as sensitive as the ones we got our hands
on at E3. However, this excuse also smacks of Sony attempting to
save face and not look weak in the face of its recent legal loss to
Immersion. Immersion for their part have stated that they believe
both technologies can work together harmoniously, company CEO Vic
Vegas also commented in a recent interview with Next
Generation that "We continue to want to try to resolve
this, and we've had discussions with them in the past about how we
could resolve this, up until now, those discussions haven't generated
any progress, but we're still hopeful that we can bring this new
technology into the market, and that we can resolve our differences
with Sony." While I'd like to believe an amicable solution
can be reached, I personally just don't buy that a settlement's going
to happen, especially since Microsoft owns 30% shares in Immersion,
they're going to squeeze.
At least that was my first
thought, but then we came across this
bit of news which indicated that Immersion would definitely see
its profits affected by Sony's plans to exclude rumble tech in the
PS3, the article also highlighted the fact that as a result the
entire market for such technology would shrink as third party
peripheral manufacturers would feel less inclined and obliged to
include the feature in their products (after all, if the official
peripheral doesn't support it why should they?) This all bears asking
the question, will Immersion end up shooting itself in the foot?
As
can be seen in the
above linked article, I personally didn't lament the loss of
force feedback as I feel it's a feature more often merely "tacked
on" than used in any legitimate effort to enhance gameplay (with
the odd exception). I also feel that the new technology will force
developers to think in new, more interesting ways that could benefit
gamers (I'm lookin' at you Hideo). That said I'm not an idiot (I'm
just ugly) and if the possibility was there I would much rather have
the best of both worlds, including force feedback and tilt
sensor tech would be the gnats nuts, but we rarely get that option in
this cruel cold world.
Making the exclusion of rumble tech
all the more frustrating is the fact that just yesterday Immersion
announced the successor to their current force feedback technology
solution christened "Touchsense." Described by Next Gen as
being able to create "crisper, more staccato vibrations,"
Immersion explains that the new technology is able to emulate the
"springy sensation of hitting a tennis ball," or the "surge
of powering up a light saber, followed by the transition to a subtle
hum, then the jolt of clashing with their opponent's light saber."
Sounds cool doesn't it? Here's the kicker, Immersion categorically
stated that the new tech was compatible with motion and tilt sensor
based controllers.... ruh-roh!
Still, it's not the end of the
road, unlikely as it is, Sony could pony up the cash to make friendly
with Immersion, incorporating this fancy new tech, or they could
develop their own rumble technology in house that doesn't interfere
with the tilt sensor. It really does sound like both companies are
feeling each other out right now, seeing how much ground the other is
willing to give, and from an admittedly laymans perspective on such
matters it seems as though some sort of settlement would be in the
best interest of not just Immersion and Sony, but gamers as well. In
a worst case scenario things would stay exactly as they are, and
depending on how much you value your good vibrations and excitations,
that's not necessarily a big loss.
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Comments
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At the end of the day its just a motor with an off center weight on the end. How Immersion can patent this 'technology' is beyond me.
To be honest I couldn't care less if its included or not, actually I like the fact that the controller will be much lighter without it and the battery will last for months without needing a recharge.
Also didn't realise Immersion had sold 30% of their soul to the devil. With Immersion being the one trick pony that they are I predict they will soon be 51% M$. How foolish they have been, but I guess thats just the American way - everyone just sue everyone else.
'(^_^)'
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Immersion as I see it screwed themselves up big time by sueing Sony, seeing as a big amount of revenue came from rumble feature in PS2 consoles. Although yes they still have more revenue making products I am saying rumble was of the biggest!
Well guess that is a good buy to rumble and Immersion and hello to a totally new wave of generation gaming! I guess the PS3 is all about Newxt-Generation, in all aspects including controller!
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I honestly say that in some games, I want rumble more then motion detector.
This include FPS, RPG, PUZZEL, RTS and some sport games.
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HOWEVER, the new stuff that Immersion is talking about sounds tight. More 'in tune' vibrations, like a hard jolt from firing a pistol to the hum of a lightsaber, would benefit gamers more than the hand-numbing 'monotone' feeling of 'the Rumble Pack' etc.
And on a minor tangent, few games actually do anything beneficial with the vibrating technology anyways. MGS did well with the heartbeats and the enemy's "!" when spotted. If games did more than just make the controller vibrate in 'monotone' when you're hit by an enemy, I'd be less willing to see it go.
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i mean, looking at the titles coming out for the system at launch, and debuting next year, it looks to me that once again Sony will come out on top (but by a slimmer margin than before). they still have the support of most developers (and you can pretty much say they own the Japanese market, as developers with more ambitious projects wouldn't be able to make the game for the Wii, and they refuse to support the 360). Microsoft's "edge" this time around is very lopsided, especially when more killer japanese games (imagine what they'll be able to do with RPGs using the processing power of the PS3) come out for the PS3. Microsoft has support from the US and UK, but Sony has the support of the US, UK, *and* Japan. that's going to equal more games in the long run.
as for Sony making kiss kiss with Immersion? it remains to be seen. personally, i'd be pretty pissed at them myself. i mean, they wait until the Playstation brand has reached *MASSIVE* popularity before they sue? er, Playstation consoles have been using rumble technology since the PS1. why didn't Immersion sue then? much like the World Wildlife Federation waited until the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) reached "we rake in billions a year!" mark did they make their move.
Immerision strikes me as being a very opportunistic company, and it also needs to be noted that Nintendo owns a stake in the company, so any royalties Sony would be paying to Immersion, would trickle down to Nintendo.
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Immersion I believe might have been losing money and needed some fast so they probably took it out on Sony, there biggest supporter! Seriously if you ask me Sony should make a new division or research field dedicated to rumble technology! That way they develop their own rumble feature, without worries of being sued and most certainly it will be well suited to the controller of the system!
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Your holding back the industry man.
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Immersion had a right to sue both Sony and Microsoft for breach of patent laws. Microsoft did what they normally do and bought out part of the company. Sony refused to pony up and ended up paying multiple times the original price for their mistake.
Not to say that Immersion is a squeaky clean business. I agree with the above poster that they are an oportune company that are completely flauting patent law.
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Tennis, golf, Time Crisis, Rez, and Lumines all would benefit from rumble and they would feel incomplete without it. Racing games would also loose out if it is not incorporated in DS3. Motor Storm without rumble sounds wrong.
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I like it when the controller rumbles to let me know when my character/player/car gets hit. Although you can see some of this on screen, sometimes you get so concentrated on attacking/shooting something that you forget you're being hit from behind unless your controller rumbles.
Nowadays with games having so much chaos happening on screen, just relying on sight makes you less responsive to other things that may be going on in the game.
I might get flamed by others saying that I just suck at gaming, but I'm just saying, if the rumble feature is implemented in a meaningful manner to the game (which can differ between games), you can play the game better to your advantage.
I'm not sure if the comment #21, sony fanmail, is on crack or something. Tennis and Golf does not have any benefit from the rumble. Do you really need to feel the racket or club striking the ball? Go play real tennis and golf if you want that. And Rez and Lumines? WTF? They are music puzzle type games. The rumble may beat to the music, but is that really that neccessary? Perhaps you should get a hearing aid if you can't hear the beats clearly enough. Lumines plays just fine on PSP without any rumbling.
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